Australia’s Big Things: The Big Mango in Bowen

This is a post in an ongoing series on the Big Things in Australia. If you like the post, be sure to follow along by subscribing to my RSS feed.

Queensland is a giant Australian state filled with tropical weather, gorgeous beaches and Bowen. Bowen is this lazy little town that you will likely drive through on any east coast of Australia road trip without maybe spending too much time, unless you’re fruit picking on a working holiday. What you will find out by some random trivia is that Bowen was one of the locations where the movie Australia was filmed; Bowen is also the home of the Big Mango!

I love Australia’s quirky big things, and the Big Mango is one of my favorites. Sure, it may just be a giant mango sculpture on the side of the road, but really it is so much more.

The Big mango is the ultimate reason (that and petrol) for travelers to stop by Bowen, and it’s a bit of a learning experience since you get to wrap your head around the fact that Bowen is famous for mangoes (and the Australia movie). At the visitor center next to the Big Mango, they sell 100% mango sorbet, and on a hot day, it is like a godsend. Also on order are dried mango bits and fresh mangoes if you’re lucky.

The Big Mango reaches a height of 12 meters, making it easy for travelers to spot from down the road, and is molded from the model of a Kensington Pride, the fruit that is of special abundance in this region.

The big thing is located right on the Bruce Highway just on the edge of town, so don’t be fooled like I was trying to visit the Big Mango at the OTHER visitor center in the middle of Bowen town. Imagine my shock that there was no mango to be found until discovering there was a 2nd information point to explore. Whew!

And more big things to come!